Heroes Only Exist in Comic Books
by Everything Under the Sun
Summary: Sam never knew about Danny being Phantom, and Phantom was framed for the death of Sam's parents. She began hunting him, and eventually he couldn't handle it anymore. He said goodbye to Tucker and Jazz and disappeared. Now Tuck and Jazz have found him in the ghost zone and try to convince him to come back. Full description in the story.


**Edit: I've changed the rating of the story from T to M, just to be safe. There is some gore in the next chapter, and their probably will be later on as well. If you don't like blood and gore, continue with caution.**

**Extended description: Sam never knew about Danny being Phantom. He didn't push her out of his life completely, but he did distance himself from her. When he was 16, Phantom was blamed for the death of Sam's parents. She was devasted and devoloped a severe hatred for the ghost and started hunting him. A year later, Danny couldn't handle it anymore. He said goodbye to Tucker and Jazz and disappeared. No one knew where he went. Now Tucker and Jazz have found him, in the ghost zone, and try to convince him to go back to the human world. But how can he face his family? Will he be able to face Sam? He's not the hero he used to be.**

**No Phantom Planet. Danny doesn't have a symbol on his chest as Sam put it there. She never knew about Danny, so she couldn't have put it there. Also, Kindred Spirits (the episode where Dani comes in) didn't happen. Neither did D-Stabilized, so Valerie doesn't know that Vlad Masters is Vlad Plasmius.  
**

**Warning: Danny and Sam have been through a lot since the end of the series, so they are going to be a bit OOC compared to the series.**

Jasmine Fenton and Tucker Foley traveled through the ghost zone in the Specter Speeder, looking for the infamous Danny Phantom. He disappeared 5 years prior and the BOOmerang had not been able to locate him in the human world, so they were now trying the ghost zone. They warily followed the contraption, looking out for any entities that might attack them on their journey. After all, humans in the ghost zone were... unusual. But they needed Danny back. Not Fenton, not Phantom, but _Danny._ They needed their brother back, they needed their son back, and they needed their best friend back.

Maddie and Jack became frantic after Danny disappeared. They formed search parties, put up fliers, contacted the police, but nothing worked. Danny was never seen again. Sam went even more psychotic than she had when her parents died 1 year prior to Danny's disappearance. The always-chipper Jack Fenton went into a state of depression that he never truly recovered from. Maddie threw herself into her work and never talked about Danny, anytime she did, a dejected expression wiggled it's way into her features.

Jazz had put on a strong face for her parents for a long time. She seemed to be the happiest out of the family. But one night she couldn't find sleep and ended up in Danny's room, laying on his bed, crying until sleep found her.

Tucker did his best to be there for Sam, but it had taken a tole on him as well. He seemed lost. Not sure which way to look or which way to turn. He only had two friends: Danny, who disappeared and Sam, who might as well have disappeared, she was so distant.

The police said he ran away, and blamed it on his bad grades, being bullied, and inattentive parents. That really crushed Maddie and Jack. Inattentive parents? They always had time for Danny.

If only Danny knew how deeply rooted he was in peoples' lives. Even Dash showed up at the Fentons' house and apologized for bullying Danny all throughout highschool.

After 5 years, many people had written Danny off. They thought he would never be back. Even Jack seemed to have given up on him. But Jazz and Tuck had not given up on Danny, and they had a pretty good idea of where he was, thanks to Maddie's new inventions.

"He's gotta be here somewhere..." Tucker muttered, eyes scanning the radar on the small craft they were in. Jazz kept her eyes thoroughly glued to the ghastly green that was the ghost zone. Danny was out there somewhere. She knew it. She could feel it. She knew her little brother was close, and she refused to give up on him.

* * *

"Jazz, you should look at this." Tucker pointed to a little blip on the radar. Jazz put her hand on the back of his chair and the other hand on the dash.

"Ok, what am I looking at."

"This dot is the BOOmerang. This dot is the signal it locked onto. But it has a really strong signature, so I'm guessing it is his lair. We know that a ghosts lair shares part of their ectosignature, so that could easily be what we are tracking. But it's moving."

"So? Everything in the ghost zone floats, even ghosts lairs."

"Exactly. They _float._ This is moving, fast."

Jazz frowned. "Could it just be that Danny has gotten a lot stronger and therefore his signal is a lot stronger? Maybe being in the ghost zone strengthened his ghost half."

Tucker leaned back in his seat and rubbed his thick goatee. "All things considered, yeah, it is a possibility. But I don't think it's likely. But it also doesn't make sense that his lair could move with such power and speed." He crossed his arms. "We have to consider the possibility that we aren't actually following Danny. It could be an extremely powerful ghost with a similar ecto-signature."

"No. It has to be Danny."

He sighed. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Will we have any trouble keeping up with it?"

"Not at the pace it's going right now, but with these levels of energy, it could have several different speeds."

They continued on in silence. They both fervently wanted this to be Danny, but they both knew it could be something else. There was no way of knowing what the BOOmerang had locked onto until they got there. Jazz paced for the next hour, but it seemed like so much longer. She had thought about bringing something with, like her AP trigonometry textbook or one of her psychology textbooks, but she knew she would be too anxious to do anything productive.

Another hour passed. "Are we there yet?" Jazz's inner child whined.

"I told you, whatever we're following moves, so of course it's going to take longer to reach."

As Jazz watched Tucker stare at all the different gauges and odometers, she realized how much he'd grown up since Danny left. He had grown a goatee and no longer wore his ridiculous red hat. He still wore glasses but now they actually looked good on him. He wasn't as clumsy. He'd grown quite a bit taller, but was still pretty scraggly. His voice had gotten deeper and he no longer talked nonstop about the latest technology. He'd grown up in other ways, too. Like how he would actually eat vegetables every now and then, probably to try and make Sam happy.

"Ok, it stopped moving." Tucker said abruptly, interrupting Jazz's train of thought.

"What?" She asked.

"It stopped moving."

Jazz walked over to look at the radar herself. "What does it mean?"

"Dunno. Could be good or bad. Could be that Danny realized it was us and stopped, could be a totally savage creature that realized it was being followed, the possibilities are endless."

As they stared at the tiny green dot on the tiny round screen, the tiny green dot disappeared.

Tucker frowned. "Aaannd that's not supposed to happen."

"Just keep going towards where it was. And keep an eye out for anything that looks like it could be Danny's lair."

For the next 5 minutes, the pair kept traveling in that direction. They didn't comment when the BOOmerang came back around to them. Jazz was about to say forget it when something appeared in front of them. It was a giant spaceship. And it literally just appeared, as if it had been invisible.

"Well, Danny's never been all that subtle." Tucker muttered to himself as they thought of their astronaut loving Danny. A hatchet flew open on the side of the space ship, seemingly beckoning the pair.

"Guess we know why his lair moves." Jazz pointed out.

"Uh, we're not going in there are we?" Tucker said nervously.

"Of course we are."

"We don't even know if that actually _is_ Danny's lair!" He protested.

"Then we'll bring weapons."

"But-"

She gave him her famous glare. Tucker slouched in his seat in resignation.

They maneuvered the Specter Speeder so that it was right below the hatchet and attached an anchor to the side. They then proceeded to climb on top of the specter speeder and climb into the spaceship.

It was tinted green, like everything else in the ghost zone, reminding Jazz of the matrix. Once inside the ship, she held her ecto gun up and at the ready. She was amazed at the intricate details inside the ship. It was huge. The room they were currently in was the size of the gym at school. _Did Danny make this?_ Jazz wondered.

"Woah." Tucker said behind her. He wore the Specter Deflecter, as he was not to be trusted with a gun.

Suddenly, static rustled over the intercom of the ship, and a voice rang out in a chipper voice.

"Good morning passengers, and welcome to Phantom airlines!"

"Danny." Tucker and Jazz said at the same time. Danny's voice was a bit deeper, and had a ghostly echo to it, but it was definitely Danny. Jazz smiled brightly at Tucker. They had done it. They found him! Tucker beamed back at her.

"There will be a minor delay in our flight. A large flock of ghost squids is headed our way and will cause some major turbulence. Please find your way to the nearest seat and buckle up tight. The flock will be here in 15. 14. 13."

Jazz and Tucker met gazes for a moment before they scrambled to find a secure seat.

"3. 2. 1." They were in their seats just as the countdown ended, and the whole ship began rocking violently. Had they not been buckled down, they would have been thrown all over the place. Jazz managed to look out a window only to see a frightening creature trying to break the glass. They felt the ship lurch forward, and soon they were away from danger.

"Thank you for your patience. The flock has passed, and you are free to move about the cabin now." The intercom fizzled out.

Tucker rubbed his neck as he looked at Jazz. "What now?"

"That's a good question." Danny called out. But this time, it wasn't over the intercom. He was in the room with them.

"Danny?" Jazz called out and scanned the room. She located his form leaning up against a wall in a dark corner. It was hard to make him out, but she easily spotted his glowing green eyes. "Danny..." She repeated and started toward him.

"What are you doing here." He said harshly, nothing like the cheery voice he used over the intercom. "You have no right to be here."

Jazz stopped mid step. "But, Danny-"

"What are you doing here."

Tucker jumped in. "We were looking for you, asshole." He spat and stood protectively in front of Jazz.

Danny laughed. "And why would you be looking for me? It's not like I've been in any danger. In fact, most ghosts leave me alone now. I've acquired quite the reputation."

Jazz opened her mouth to speak up, but Danny interrupted her. "Are you going to say you missed me? That mom and dad missed me? That Sam missed me? Well I don't care. Mom and dad were too stupid to realize I was Phantom and I'd gotten pretty damn sick of Sam."

Tucker gave him a disgusted look. "How could you say that, Danny? Sam's parents _died._ She needed you and you up and left!"

His eyes flashed an even brighter green. He stood and began walking over menacingly. He had grown even taller than his dad since the last time Jazz saw him. His shoulders were broader and he was more muscular. When he stepped into the light, she almost gasped at the jagged scar running across his left cheek, mere centimeters below his eye. His skin was now tinted a ghastly green, probably from the prolonged exposure to the ghost zone.

"Yes, Tucker, Sam's parents died. And we all know who was blamed for that. Phantom." He smiled, but it was sinister. He'd grown hard and cold. But Jazz could see the pain in his eyes he was trying so hard to mask.

"Did either of you determine the identity of the Black Shadow? The ghost hunter who worked alongside Valerie?" A pause. "No? I'll give you a hint. It was Sam. Sam hunted me down on several occasions, intent on revenge. Do you know who gave me this scar?" He pointed to the scar on his face. "The Black Shadow. Can you see why I'm a bit conflicted?" His voice was quiet, but you could hear the anger laced within it. He stood feet away from them now, in the same jumpsuit he always bore as Phantom. Tucker still stood protectively in front of Jazz. He had been so excited to hear Danny's voice over the intercom, but now... He was just worried. He hoped Danny was still in there somewhere, not this shell of a person that was left behind.

"Oh, Danny..." Jazz said and covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. Her Danny was right in front of her, in pain. Her little brother. Before anyone could stop her, she pushed Tucker aside leaped on Danny. She wrapped her arms securely around his neck and began crying. She cried for all the times she had to be strong. She cried for all the times she couldn't. She cried for all the times she rushed into his room to tell him something, only to remember he was gone. She cried for all the times she had needed to hear his reassuring voice, but couldn't. She cried for all the sleepless nights sitting in his room, staring at a picture of them together.

He just stood there, not pushing away or hugging her back. She tightened her grip on him and cried harder. Her Danny had been hurt badly, and she hadn't been there for him. She refused to let him go until he hugged her back.

Danny wasn't sure what to do. He hadn't had human contact in 5 years, and in those 5 years, he'd built up a mental wall. He told himself that his family and friends hated him for abandoning them, but here Jazz was, his big sister, crying as she hugged him and all he did was stand there. She didn't even care that he was Phantom at the moment. Phantom, who was accused of murdering Sam's parents.

_It's... Jazz. _He realized. He had to hug her back. So he did. He lightly set his hands on her waist. Not much of a hug, but it was a start.

He inhaled deeply, letting her scent fill his lungs. Almost all the tension in his body left him at that moment. All the sorrow and fear that she hated him left his mind. He was filled with memories of Jazz reading him bedtime stories when he was a kid, or playing with him when he was 10, or covering for him when he went of ghost hunting.

He wrapped his arms around her waist.

A violent sob consumed her, and his face contorted in an expression of pain and guilt. He had made her cry. He had made Jazz cry.

"Oh Danny..." She choked between sobs.

"Shh..." He said quietly and tightened his grip on her, giving her the hug she deserved.

* * *

**So, what do you think? Good, bad, terrible, wonderful? Let me know! Thanks for taking the time to read this :D**

_**In need of a beta! PM me if you're willing! :D Thanks!**_

_-Everything Under the Sun_


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